If you’re looking for a cute and easy Christmas craft for kids that doesn’t involve glue, paint, or a giant mess to clean up afterward, these adorable candy cane ornaments are about to become your new favorite holiday craft! All you need are white pipe cleaners, red pony beads, and a few letter beads to make the easiest personalized Christmas ornaments. Seriously, how sweet are these little candy canes?
My favorite part about this craft is just how simple it is! Kids of all ages can join in on the fun, but it’s especially great for preschoolers who love anything that involves beads. There’s no glue, no drying time, and no complicated instructions. Just thread the beads onto a fuzzy white pipe cleaner, bend it into a candy cane shape, and you’re done! It’s also a fun way for little ones to practice their fine motor skills, letter recognition, and spelling their own names. A little learning disguised as Christmas fun? I’ll take it!
These DIY candy cane ornaments would be such a fun holiday activity to make at home with your kids or even with a whole preschool or kindergarten classroom. You can set out bowls of colorful beads and pipe cleaners, and let the kids get creative. Each child gets to make their very own ornament with their name spelled out in beads, making every candy cane a little different and extra special.
How To Make Easy Personalized Candy Candy Christmas Ornaments
- Start by folding about ½ inch of one end of a white pipe cleaner inward. This covers the sharp, pointy tip and creates a little stopper to keep the beads from sliding off as you thread them on.
- Next, it’s time to add the beads! Start by threading a few red pony beads onto your pipe cleaner, followed by the alphabet beads to spell out your child’s name. Add more red beads between each letter to create that classic red-and-white candy cane look. The number of red beads you use between the letters will depend on how long the name is, so feel free to adjust the spacing until everything fits nicely!
- Once all your beads are in place, trim the pipe cleaner if needed, depending on the length of the name. Just be sure to leave about an inch of extra pipe cleaner at the bottom. Fold the last ½ inch inward to create a little stopper that keeps all the beads securely in place.
And can we talk about how adorable these look hanging on the Christmas tree? They’re so simple to make, yet they look like something you’d find at a cute little holiday craft fair. Best of all, they make the sweetest handmade Christmas keepsakes! Years from now, when you’re decorating the tree, you’ll pull out that tiny candy cane with your child’s name on it and remember those little hands that made it. Those are the ornaments I love the most!
If you like this easy Christmas ornament craft, check out these DIY Snowflake Ornaments made with popsicle sticks!
These Snowy Owl Pinecones would also look cute perched in your Christmas tree. ☺️
